Marxism 1995 leaflet
Marxism 1996 leaflet.
Marxism 1996 timetable
Marxism 1998 programme.
New documents in the archive: programmes and leaflets from the Socialist Workers' Party's Marxism conference, 1996-98.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8318/
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8319/
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8320/
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8321/
Screenshot of a web page headlined "1989 Mikhail Gorbachev Visited Ireland" and showing an Irish Socialist article. (Full text on the page linked in this post).
#OnThisDay 2nd April 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev met then Taoiseach and Tánaiste, Charles Haughey and Brian Lenihan, at a stop-over at Shannon airport en route to Cuba.
www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
"Military Dictatorship in Northern Ireland"
Freedom, Anarchist Weekly, published #OnThisDay 1st of April, 1972.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/1187/
🎙️New podcast episode!
We talk to Communist Party of Ireland activist and former General Secretary, Eugene McCartan.
podcast.leftarchive.ie/@ILAPodcast/...
Published #OnThisDay 27th March 1981:
The Irish People, newspaper of Sinn FĂ©in The Workers' Party
www.leftarchive.ie/document/574/
"Dublin Bus Strike: Decent Basic Pay for Bus Drivers Is The Solution
De-regulation/privatisation of public transport in Dublin would worsen the service"
A press release from Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party #OnThisDay 24th March 2000.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/6769/
New in the archive:
Forum, April 1993 – an internal newsletter from Democratic Left.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8278/
The Long Kesh University - article by Red Hand Commando student, Cage 19 Long Kesh printed in Combat magazine no. 22 / 1974 @leftarchive.ie
Poster reading: Free Food 4 All / Always Vegan, Rich or Poor, Sober or Stoned / @ Broadstone Luas Stop Every Second Sunday
A leaflet headlined Bia NĂ BuamaĂ: Food Not Bombs Dublin
Newly added to the collection:
A poster and leaflet from Dublin Food Not Bombs.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8267/
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8268/
The DSP was left of Labour, and strongly anti-Nationalist. (The constituent groups had previously co-operated in Socialists Against Nationalism).
The party ultimately merged with Labour in 1990.
You can see them in our Timeline of the Irish Left here: www.leftarchive.ie/page/timelin...
Democratic Socialist Party / Outline Policy On Taxation
Democratic Socialist Party / Outline Policy On Northern Ireland
Democratic Socialist Party / Outline Policy On Full Employment
Democratic Socialist Party / Outline Policy On Church And State
Policy documents from the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), early 1980s.
The DSP was formed in 1982 by a merger of the Socialist Party of Ireland (SPI), Jim Kemmy's Limerick Socialist Organisation and individuals including members of the British & Irish Communist Organisation (BICO).
Few groups or individuals on the left in Ireland understand that the situation of Travellers was until recently the most explicit form of racism in this country. Because Travellers are white, people have difficulty recognising discrimination against them as racism. Travellers are subjected to the most extreme forms of social exclusion and segregation which can only be described as apartheid. They are refused service in pubs, cafes, many shops, launderettes, hairdressers, discos, hotels, cinemas and even some doctors refuse to serve them. At school many Traveller children are taught in totally segregated classes which cater for Traveller children of all ages in the one class. Officially this is done to provide them with a service that respects their nomadic culture. In reality nothing could be further from the truth, which is that it is done in order to discriminate against them more efficiently. Racism is a particular form of domination, exploitation and exclusion. Racism against Travellers and Gypsies is rooted in an ideology of sedentarist superiority. This is the belief that the settled person's way of life is the modern norm and that nomadism is a throwback to less civilised times. Nomadic people also pose a threat to the values of property ownership and the accumulation of possessions. Racism involves power domination by one group over the other. Because Travellers are such a small minority of the population (0.5% approx) they are totally at the mercy of the settled population. The effects of this racism and exclusion can be graphically seen in the health statistics of the Traveller population. Traveller infants have three times the infant mortality rate of the settled population. Traveller women have a life expectancy that is fifteen years less than their settled counterparts and Traveller men's life expectancy is ten years less than settled men's. They don't fare any better educationally. Only a handful of Traveller children have made it through second l…
From 1998, an article from the Workers' Solidarity Movement paper, Anarchist News, on anti-Traveller racism.
The issue is available on our website here: www.leftarchive.ie/document/2988/
The article comes from The United Irishman, Vol. 23, No. 7, which can be viewed in full on our website: www.leftarchive.ie/document/1608/
![Scanned newspaper article headlined "Wales Defiled!", with a caricature image of Charles, and reading:
On July 1 as we go to press a representative of the English Crown, the most vicious institution of murder the world has ever known, was installed as "prince" of Wales.
Surrounded by the largest force of police and troops ever mounted in peacetime the English "royals" imposed themselves on the people of Wales. The "royal" occasion did not pass without protest however: bombs exploded in Cardiff, the Welsh Capital, and in Abergele, forty miles from Caernarvon, two men were killed while placing explosives in a government office.
At the same time the marathon trial of members of the Free Wales Army was coming to an end and the verdicts were due to be announced on July 1. Referring to the trial, our Welsh correspondent writes:
Now as the Free Wales Army trial drags to its seemingly interminable close the moment of decision – the "crunch" – arrives. Not only for those patriots in the dock at Swansea. The hour of decision has arrived for the whole movement towards devolution of Government away from the Whitehall tyrannies of the Harold Wilson regime. Sadly, most sadly, one or two signs of the cracking of resolve are to be seen amongst those who took upon themselves the heavy responsibility of putting themselves forward as martyrs in the cause of the struggle to save the lifeblood of the Welsh nation.
The inspiration for the Welsh militant movement sprang – as it was bound to do – from the great examples of the Irish patriots of the time of Ireland's agony.
But from the example of the martyrs for Irish independence those who are now in doubt – and who can blame them after the ordeal they have undergone in English prisons over the past months? – they, these new martyrs in the cause of Wales, must draw fresh strength.
[Transcription continued in duplicated image]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:voubmrdtjrduaaqwmfwsqsvj/bafkreifpxs6q7ztyusequzt2iqvlsfekoikgbbh5ei74dwbmpv2m4uzfwe)
Scanned newspaper article headlined "Wales Defiled!", with a caricature image of Charles, and reading: On July 1 as we go to press a representative of the English Crown, the most vicious institution of murder the world has ever known, was installed as "prince" of Wales. Surrounded by the largest force of police and troops ever mounted in peacetime the English "royals" imposed themselves on the people of Wales. The "royal" occasion did not pass without protest however: bombs exploded in Cardiff, the Welsh Capital, and in Abergele, forty miles from Caernarvon, two men were killed while placing explosives in a government office. At the same time the marathon trial of members of the Free Wales Army was coming to an end and the verdicts were due to be announced on July 1. Referring to the trial, our Welsh correspondent writes: Now as the Free Wales Army trial drags to its seemingly interminable close the moment of decision – the "crunch" – arrives. Not only for those patriots in the dock at Swansea. The hour of decision has arrived for the whole movement towards devolution of Government away from the Whitehall tyrannies of the Harold Wilson regime. Sadly, most sadly, one or two signs of the cracking of resolve are to be seen amongst those who took upon themselves the heavy responsibility of putting themselves forward as martyrs in the cause of the struggle to save the lifeblood of the Welsh nation. The inspiration for the Welsh militant movement sprang – as it was bound to do – from the great examples of the Irish patriots of the time of Ireland's agony. But from the example of the martyrs for Irish independence those who are now in doubt – and who can blame them after the ordeal they have undergone in English prisons over the past months? – they, these new martyrs in the cause of Wales, must draw fresh strength. [Transcription continued in duplicated image]
[transcription continued] They must stand firm. One sign of weakness, one indication that one or two may be tempted, fatally, to "crawl out from under" the weight of their responsibility – a responsibility to the generations of new Welshmen and women in the years to come – and the very existence of Wales, as a Nation again, will be equally fatally threatened. Stand firm, the new martyrs of Wales. Remember the examples of Pearse, of Connolly, of Ap Griffith, the Welshman him self who inspired in those days of the other struggles for the freedom of Ireland. Stand firm. For the dignity of the Welsh nation. Only stand fearless before the threats of the London Government hirelings, the Quisling traitors of Wales, who are even now drawing their wages in Saxon gold as drovers of the Welsh cattle out of Wales and to the "Sais" New Towns, only stand firm now all can be won. Only stand firm now and as Ireland survived its testing hour, so can Wales today. A heavy responsibility rests on the shoulders of the men on trial. They must prove themselves worthy of it. Any sign of weakness, any sign of fear, and the whole movement towards the rennaissance [sic] of the Welsh spirit will be put back a hundred years. The men on trial at the Inquisition of Swansea have the ability to write themselves into a golden page of Welsh history. Stand firm Welshmen. The heart and soul of a new Wales is with you. The new martyrs of Wales have already been likened to "the tip of the spear" – this one action, this one public martyrdom, and the modern "Siege of The Post Office" in open court can win Wales its freedom after 500 years of insidious and open oppression. Stand firm and all can be won. Stand firm for Wales!
From 1969, an article on opposition to the appointment of Charles as Prince of Wales, and the ongoing trial of nine members of the Free Wales Army.
From United Irishman, newspaper of Sinn FĂ©in.
New in the archive:
IRSP statements on Billy McMillen and sectarian killings from 1975.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8258/
www.leftarchive.ie/document/8260/
Among contemporary groups, the archive also includes leaflets from feminist campaign groups ROSA and Reclaim the Agenda (@reclaimtheagenda.bsky.social).
We welcome any more documents to add to the collection!
www.leftarchive.ie/organisation...
www.leftarchive.ie/organisation...
We also have several copies of Women's View, which was produced throughout the 1980s by the National Women's Committee of Sinn Féin The Workers’ Party (later The Workers’ Party).
www.leftarchive.ie/publication/...
"because we were highly critical of the Republican Movement we were labelled as a bourgeois women’s group by that section of the movement [WAI], we couldn’t win either way." (from doi.org/10.2307/1394...)
A useful quote indicates the tensions among feminist groups in the North at that time:
"Because we regarded ourselves in opposition to the British we were labelled as republican by those women’s groups who didn’t actively oppose it [the NIWRM] at the same time… [cont.]
Front cover of Women's Action, Vol. 2, No. 3. The masthead includes an image of a woman in chains with the text: Women's Action, Belfast Women's Collective;
Moving North, we have one copy of Women's Action, produced by the Belfast Women's Collective.
BWC emerged from the Socialist Women’s Group in 1977 which in turn had left the Northern Ireland Women’s Rights Movement (NIWRM).
www.leftarchive.ie/document/629/
A scan of the back cover of Banshee with the text of the Irishwomen United charter.
Front cover of Banshee, Vol. 1, No. 2
Irishwomen United, founded in 1975, produced a journal called Banshee from 1975-77.
The back cover reproduced the group's charter, shown in this image. It is notable for an explicit demand for free, legal abortion and contraception.
www.leftarchive.ie/publication/...
The influential Irish Women's Liberation Movement is known for events such as the Contraception Train. It was renamed Women's Liberation Movement in 1972, though members also formed other groups at that time.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_W...
The front cover of Fownes Street Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2. It is a bright yellow page with black text reading Fownes Street Journal, Women's Liberation Movement. A logo at the centre consists of the common gender symbol for women (♀) with an equals within the circle.
On International Women's Day #IWD, readers might be interested in some of the publications from Irish feminist groups in our collection.
First up, Fownes Street Journal, which was produced between 1972 and '74 by the Women's Liberation Movement.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/2461/
Thanks!
Many thanks @dlooney.bsky.social!
Our timeline of the Irish left traces the history of Irish left parties and groups throughout the 20th Century and up to the contemporary.
It's always evolving – if you are aware of a group that should be included or have any corrections, please let us know!
www.leftarchive.ie/page/timelin...
"Why Was Garland Shot?"
The Irish People, newspaper of Official Sinn Féin, on the attempt on National Organiser Seán Garland's life, which had taken place the week before.
Published #OnThisDay, 7th March 1975.
www.leftarchive.ie/document/6906/
A newspaper article headlined: Government's anti-abortion referendum defeated / For free abortion on demand!
The "Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy" referendum was held #OnThiSDay, 6th March 2002. The bill sought to exclude risk of suicide as grounds for abortion and to further penalise assisting in or performing abortions.
It was narrowly defeated, with 50.4% voting against.
